We don't need our law enforcement agencies acting like gangsters
New Mexico's
House Bill 560 took effect this month. The law ends the local law enforcement practice of auctioning seized items to use as revenue to
shore up their budgets.
The new law prevents police from seizing the property of someone they arrested without first proving they committed a crime, a practice that was legal before. And it addresses a philosophical question, said Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington: "Should people's property be seized and potentially even sold without there being a trial and proof of guilt?"
Montoya answers, "no," and the new law protects the average citizen from such seizures, he said.
The idea is that by taking away the revenue that seized items generate for local municipalities, you take away the incentive for local law enforcement to steal citizens' money and property. The big hurdle for this crazy legislature now is that with this money gone—sometimes 25% of a local law enforcement budget—Republicans are going to have to find a way to fund these police agencies.
And these agencies are going to be asking for money. Unless they want to give up buying all the best new toys for law enforcing. Region II Narcotics Task Force's director Sgt. Kyle Dowdy:
He said the task force may have to reduce the amount of equipment it buys, such as wiretaps and cameras, and train less often. And training, he said, is essential to catching criminals who are constantly changing the methods they use to distribute drugs.
Our law enforcement does need to be correctly funded but not at the expense of the people it has been charged with serving. There are quite a few complications in this new law but it may give some direction in how other states and municipalities can go about dismantling a corrupt system where our law enforcement preys upon its citizenry in order to survive.